Love's Miracle
by Ana Hazel
Summary: This is basically an extension of the end of Rebirth. After defeating the terrible Vong disease, Mara needs Luke's help to give birth to their son.


**Title:** Love's Miracle  
**Author:** Hazel  
**Genre:** mush, with a little angst.  
**Characters:** L/M, Cilghal, Solos

**Timeframe:** 26.5 ABY  
**Summary:** This is basically an extension of the end of Rebirth.  
**Disclaimer:**The Star Wars Universe does not belong to me (unfortunately). I just like to play with it.

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**Love's Miracle**

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_Hi there, Luke. Glad to have you back, Mara seemed to say. And then they were expanding, extending outward in every direction, like a galaxy being born. Like anything being born. Like life itself._

- in Edge of Victory - Rebirth.

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Luke Skywalker was holding his wife tightly in his arms. They were both half reclined on a bed in the Errant Venture's Med Ward - he against some pillows and she, on her side, against his chest with her head resting against his shoulder. Cilghal had tried to convince him to let Mara lie down on her own, but there was no way he was letting go; not after what they had been through just a few hours ago.

Just a few hours ago, Luke had almost lost the love of his life, along with their unborn son, to that ill-fated Yuuzhan Vong engineered disease that had been plaguing her for two years.

She had been better for a while, thanks to the gift of mysterious tears shed by a mysterious being but that gift had proven to be a somewhat deceitful one, since while it was helping Mara, it was also poisoning the baby inside of her and because of that Mara had stopped taking them… and then the disease had returned even more relentless than before.

In an effort to keep the disease away from her baby, Mara had let it run wild and ravage the rest of her body. It had worked - the baby was safe - but Mara was dying.

But earlier that day, they had succeeded in pushing the disease back and had managed to buy Mara some time - Luke wouldn't dare to hope for more than that, even though at the time it actually felt like the disease was being purged out of his wife's system.

A few minutes after Mara had regained consciousness, another battle began - the first contraction ripped through her body announcing the impending birth of her child. The contraction by normal, healthy, standards hadn't been that strong, but Mara's body was so weakened by the previous struggle, that the pain had almost caused her to lose consciousness.

Luke had almost panicked again. This was not something he knew how to handle so he pleaded to Cilghal to do something; they had to stop Mara's contractions because she was in no shape to give birth at that point.

"Calm down, Luke." Cilghal had told him.

After thoroughly examining Mara using the Force and all other diagnosis means at her disposal, the Jedi Healer told him that they couldn't stop the birth without causing great distress to the baby and they couldn't deliver the baby surgically because Mara would go into shock - it would most likely kill her.

"What can we do, then? We have to be able to do something to help her." Luke practically demanded. After all they had been through, he couldn't believe this was a dead end.

"We can, Luke. The first stage of labor will go on for hours. We'll use these hours to strengthen Mara up." Cilghal calmed the almost frantic husband. "I'm going to put her in a healing trance and direct my own Force sense to the more critical organs: I'll need to clear her lungs of the built up fluid, strengthen her heart and restart her liver and kidneys."

"How can I help?" Luke beseeched.

"You can aid her in her healing by focusing your own strength in helping with the healing process and you can help her with the pain of the contractions. We can't stop the contractions but we can absorb the bulk of the pain by taking it onto ourselves."

"I can do that - it is only fitting."

Luke gasped as another contraction flew through Mara's body into his own. He now had a whole new degree of respect for women and especially for mothers - this was not easy at all.

"The contractions are now very close together. It is time to wake Mara up." Cilghal declared approaching the bed.

"Is she strong enough to do this, Cilghal?"

"We will help. Would you like to wake her or should I?"

Luke cleared a few loose strands of hair of Mara's face and whispered in her ear, stretching out with the Force to gently bring her back. "I love you, Mara."

Mara slowly opened her eyes and focused them on her husband. They were clearer now - not as yellow and bloodshot as they had been earlier and she offered him a faint smile that warmed his heart.

"Mara," Cilghal called on her attention, "can you take a deep breath for me?"

Mara did as instructed and found out that that act was now much easier and didn't cause her to start coughing. Pleased with Mara's improvements, Cilghal told Luke to move his wife to the birthing table.

The hour that followed seemed to last forever. Cilghal was hesitant about giving Mara drugs to help with the pain because she didn't know if they would have an adverse reaction in her patient's weakened body and Mara herself didn't want them because she feared the effect they would have on the baby. In the end, they decided that Luke and Cilghal would continue to dampen Mara's pain solely through the Force while feeding her the strength she needed to continue with labor.

After Mara finally gave that last push and Luke was called upon to cut the baby's umbilical cord, he placed their newborn son on his mother's awaiting arms and kissed her while she held the baby.

"Allow me to be the first to congratulate you," Cilghal declared, "you have a very healthy baby boy."

"He is healthy, isn't he, Cilghal?" Mara asked, still unsure. When the Healer confirmed it, Mara's eyes filled with tears of joy. Then, suddenly, her eyes unfocused as she remembered something. She turned to Luke questioningly. "I heard a voice, before, when you joined me in the Force. Was it really…?"

"It was Ben Kenobi," Luke confirmed.

Mara returned her gaze to the baby in her arms. "I think Ben is a good name for our son."

Luke nodded at her thought and grinned when the baby's hand found his finger. He took the baby in his own arms while the Healer finished tending to Mara. Then Cilghal asked him to move Mara back to the bed, now made anew, and Luke handed the baby back to his wife and carried them both to the other side of the room.

After instructing the droids to clear the birthing table, Cilghal announced the first visitors, Anakin and Mirax, making sure to instruct them to not overstay since it was imperative to let Mara rest.

Things were so quiet now that Ben had fallen asleep again. It was the middle of the night aboard the Errant Venture and it seemed to Luke he was the only one awake. He had tried to get some sleep earlier but had been unable to shut down his thoughts - they seemed to travel back in time to that morning and he would inevitably have to open his eyes to check that both Mara and their son were alright.

Luke changed his position on the chair he was occupying by her bed and brought the seat closer to it. Cilghal had arranged for a cot for him to sleep in but he found that it didn't provide the closeness to her he yearned for, and he didn't really want to fall asleep.

Even though he could feel the Living Force coursing through his wife's body, Luke still couldn't completely put his fears to rest. He had asked Cilghal, after the delivery, if they should give Mara the tears to take since they weren't sure if the disease had just backed down for a little while or if it was truly gone, but she had told him that that wasn't a good idea. The Healer reminded him of what had happened when Mara had taken the tears for the first time - that she had gone into convulsions - and that it was her firm belief that Mara would not stand to have such a reaction at that moment, should it happen. Besides, Cilghal believed Mara would not be needing the tears, at least that night.

He gazed at her resting form and that of the baby cuddled on top of her chest. The Horns had volunteered to take in the baby for the first night so that the new parents could rest, but Ben wouldn't go for it and the minute they took him away from Mara, he had started his newborn wailing and only ceased it when he was placed near his mother.

Cilghal had then explained to them that Force-sensitive children grew very attached to their mothers during gestation and suffered immensely if separated from them, especially if the mother was also a Force-user and interacted with the child during that time. She advised Luke to, during the first few days and until the baby was more used to the outside world, put Ben to fall asleep on top of Mara's chest so that he could hear her heart beat and feel her Force-presence fully.

Luke smiled at that memory. Things were alright for now and he allowed himself to feel the joy of being a father. He reached to caress his son's back as the baby stirred a bit and then caught hold of his wife's hand. It was warm and dry, so different from how it had been that morning. She looked so peaceful now, the Force shining brightly within her even in the deepest healing trance the other two Jedi Masters were able to induce.

Mara hadn't wanted to be back in a trance for the entire night, she wanted to take care of her newborn, but after all the fighting of that and the previous days she had to yield her pride and let the Healer put her under.

Just before she went under, Mara called Luke to her side and whispered to him: "I'm sorry, Luke, I was so difficult in the past days and you don't deserve it. I want you to know that I'm sorry and I love you." Luke knew it was sheer exhaustion talking and not actually his wife, so he shushed her with a gentle kiss, assured her that he would take good care of Ben and eased her into the healing trance.

Luke was almost dozing off again when Cilghal entered the Med Ward.

"Good morning, Luke!" She greeted him lightly.

"Is it morning already?"

"Yes. The others are waking up the students and preparing their breakfast." The Healer commented, then turned her gaze towards Luke appraising him. "Did you sleep at all?"

"Not much, but I did rest. In fact, I feel much better today than yesterday."

"That is good." She patted his back and then turned to Mara's slumbering form. "Could you hold the baby, please?" The Healer asked while disconnecting the intravenous nutrient feed from her hand.

"Yeah, are we going to wake her now?" Luke questioned nervously while picking up the infant and holding him carefully.

"No, not yet. I'm just going to draw some blood and fluids for testing." She explained and after doing it, Cilghal reached with the Force to assess Mara's condition. When she was finished with her examination, she turned back to Luke. "Mara is doing much better and I still can't sense the disease inside of her. I will analyze her fluids now and get back to you in a couple of hours. In the meantime may I suggest you take your son and join the children for breakfast, I know they are eager to meet the baby. Mara will be alright here."

Just before exiting the room, Luke wondered how Ben would react to leaving his mother, but after having been taken care of by his father for over ten hours, the infant seemed to feel very safe with him and didn't fuss at all.

Two and a half hours later, Cilghal found Luke back by Mara's side and although the Jedi Healer didn't actually confirm it, Luke knew she had good news. She asked him to please wake up Mara while she fetched a holoscreen from the next room.

Luke placed Ben back on top of Mara's chest, where he knew she would see him first, and then leaned in and whispered "I love you". As her eyes opened, now completely clear, and focused on the infant, her smile widened revealing a blend of happiness and relief. Then she turned to Luke and pulled him closer for a kiss.

Just as they were parting, Cilghal reentered the room, pushing a hovercart carrying a big holoscreen and its terminal.

"Good morning, Mara! How are you feeling?"

"Good… thirsty, though," she answered honestly while pushing herself to a sitting position and holding Ben. The sudden change of position made Mara's head start to spin and Luke jump to support her and the baby. "Wow!"

"It's alright," Cilghal started noticing Mara's dizziness, "that is just an effect of the deep trance."

After Mara took a few deep breaths, Cilghal examined her again - this time awake - concluding that both her heart and lungs were now back to normal, her liver, pancreas and kidneys were not so well but getting there and the rest of her was generally much better than the night before, although it would take some time for her to be deemed completely healthy.

"Now, I don't know if Luke has told you that I collected blood and fluids from you this morning, for testing." Cilghal began.

"I didn't have a chance to." Luke answered Mara's inquiring look.

"Well, then, I'll just show you my findings." The Healer proceeded by turning on the holoscreen and monitor.

After she touched a few controls and the screen showed several rectangles each containing what were obviously cells. The first rectangle showed the kind of cells one would expect to find on a human - healthy cells; the second showed them as Mara remembered from her first exam after becoming sick - tainted with something dark and wrong; the third also showed the dark cells next to hers, but this time it seemed the dark ones were not attacking the healthy ones and Mara recognized the holo from an exam she had taken about two months after taking the tears; and the last holo showed an almost impossible number of tainted cells attaching a few healthy ones and they knew that that had been Mara's test results three days earlier.

As Cilghal explained what Mara and Luke already knew, she flipped a control and the several rectangles disappeared, giving place to a single one, similar to the first.

"This is the result I got this morning. As you can see, your cells are clean, like they haven't been for a long time." The Healer concluded and waited for the inevitable questions.

Mara was the first to find her voice. "So, it's gone?"

"It would appear so." Cilghal confirmed. She watched as the Force sense of the two humans before her changed from hesitant to thoughtful to gleeful. "But you still need to rest - you still have much healing to do. I will prescribe vitamins and a healthy diet, and want you to do at least two hours in a healing trance during the day on top of the whole night, for at least a week. Then we'll reassess. Luke, you will make sure Mara follows my indications."

"Yes, Ma'am!" He promptly promised, a wide grin plastered across his face.

"Mara, if you promise to behave, I might release you from the Med Ward sooner than you think."

"I'll behave, I promise." Mara replied with a happy grin of her own.

"Good! I will excuse myself now. Make sure you have a good breakfast, Mara. But not too much since your stomach hasn't had anything solid for days now."

As she was leaving, Cilghal heard Luke picking up the comm and asking the galley for a dose of flapcakes.

After Cilghal left the room, Mara stretched her arms to take back her baby, whom Luke had been holding throughout the examination and Cilghal's report, and then snuggled under Luke's arm, basking in his love. They were both speechless but words weren't necessary, they had won another battle together and even though there was a war raging out there, they were at peace - they were a family.

Luke was lying down on his left side, on top of his bed, his head held up by his left hand. He was looking at the most beautiful site he had ever seen - that of his wife nursing their 3 day-old infant. Mara's milk had come the previous night causing great surprise and joy to the new parents and their personal Healer. Cilghal had tested the milk, just to be on the safe side, and had deemed it safe and most nutritious and Mara had been overjoyed at the prospect of being able to breastfeed Ben.

Mara was now looking much better, too. She was still very pale and thin but her skin had gotten some of that glow back and her eyes were completely clear and bright. She had had a haircut though, because it had been too brittle and splintered. Mirax had done it according to the latest fashion and it now just above the shoulders with bangs. Luke missed her long hair but the new haircut brought out her curls and he did enjoy wrapping them around his fingers.

It had been also on the day before that Cilghal, true to her word and seeing that Mara was really much better, had allowed her and the baby to move back to the quarters assigned to the Skywalkers aboard the _Errant Venture_, providing she kept up with her healing meditation and reported for examinations every day at least until the first week was up. So, the night before, Luke had finally been able to sleep holding on to his wife.

"You're getting fatherly on me again." Mara noted, watching Luke's giddy smile and caressing his chest with her bare foot.

"Can you blame me?" He returned, catching her foot and delicately nibbling her toes until she pulled it away due to tickles.

"You're hopeless, Farmboy!" She teased him and then noticed his attention turning somewhere else. Her answer came without the need for a question.

"Leia's here." Luke said, pulling himself up to a sitting position.

Mara also straightened up while a slightly panicked look passed through her eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for, Skywalker? Go stall them while I finish feeding Ben."

The last thing she wanted was Han Solo and Jacen to waltz in while she was breastfeeding - that would just be weird.

Leia had spent the last three days in a very nervous state. She too had felt her brother's distress, and given the circumstances, she was afraid of what she would find on the _Venture_. True, he had felt better afterwards, but relief didn't translate that well in the Force as that deep angsty feeling she had gotten first did and she had been afraid to seek him out through their bond.

Even though Jacen had assured her that Luke felt better, Leia was still preoccupied.

While Han brought the _Falcon_ down on their assigned landing hangar, Leia watched through the viewport as her younger son Anakin ran towards the ship ready to greet them. When the ramp lowered, mother and son met halfway.

"Everything's fine, Mom." Anakin answered her silent question. "Things were really bad for a while, but now they're stellar."

"What happened?" Han asked.

"I'm not completely sure, 'cause I wasn't here at the time. But long story short: Aunt Mara's illness came back and nearly killed her, then Uncle Luke used the Force to heal her and then the baby was born."

"So, she's okay now?" Jacen asked, seeking confirmation.

"Yeah! Master Cilghal said she was cured."

"And the baby?" Leia questioned, eager for new of her new nephew.

"He's great - he likes me." Anakin answered proudly, remembering how his little cousin liked to grab his finger.

At that moment they saw Luke entering the hangar and Leia thought she had never seen her brother happier. She rushed to him and they held each other with overwhelming joy.

After Luke greeted his nephew and recovered from Han's multiple back slaps, Leia asked: "So, where's my nephew? Why didn't you bring him here?"

"Mara's feeding him," he answered, apologetically. "And I'm supposed to delay you guys for the next ten minutes. Please, cooperate!"

Still, Luke could only hold Leia off for five of those ten minutes so they agreed to let her go in on her own and call the rest of them after Mara had finished tending to the baby.

When Leia entered the room, she found Mara still sitting on the bed and Ben still sucking on her breast. As Mara brought up her eyes to look at the newcomer, Leia approached the bed and sat next to her putting her arm around her sister-in-law. The new presence in his surroundings made Ben open his eyes and look up.

"Hi there, Sweetie," Leia said in a very soft voice, "I'm your Auntie Leia."

"Hi, Auntie Leia, I'm your nephew Ben." Mara's voice spoke on behalf of the infant in her arms.

"Oh, he's so beautiful, Mara!" Leia declared, taking Ben's little hand in her own and caressing it.

"He is, isn't he," Mara had to agree in absolute rapture. "Just like his dad."

After Leia called the Solo males in the room, Luke took his seat next to Mara and they all had a lot of fun watching three grown Solo guys cooing over one tiny baby.

The actual celebration of the birth of Ben Skywalker only took place two days later, after Jaina arrived and the whole family was once again reunited.

~END~


End file.
